Waters Run Deep
by Laume
Summary: Written for the Third Floor Corridor contest. Harry and Bellatrix get trapped together in miles of cave. They need each other to survive, but will they manage not to throttle one another?
1. Chapter 1

Waters Run Deep.

Written for the Third Floor Corridor contest.

"Who'd have thought Voldemort would hide yet another Horcrux in Hogwarts?" Harry thought, climbing past a huge boulder. He looked around. Well, not exactly IN Hogwarts. He had to be at least a mile outside the castle. He briefly wondered if Snape had known this vast expanse of dungeons when he had told Harry about the hidden entrance in an unused corridor. Harry looked at his robes. Unused it had been for many centuries, apparently, judging by the sheer amount of dust.

He briefly wished Ron and Hermione had been able to join him, but Ron hadn't yet recovered from the injuries he had sustained during their journey to retrieve another Horcrux, and Hermione was needed to brew the complicated potions her fiancee had to take daily to recover.

So when Snape had sent his message in the usual code about another of the Horcruxes, Harry had gone alone. Nevertheless, he was well equipped. Hermione had designed the belt he was wearing which held not only Godric Gryffindors sword, but also a stack of various potions. The belt had spells on them that automatically preserved and protected the vials and potions from being damaged in various ways.

Snape had warned that the Dark Lord was becoming more anxious now that Harry was progressing with the destruction of the Horcruxes, and might have sent someone to protect it.

So far, though, the only thing that threatened Harry was fatigue. He had been in this path of the dungeons for at least 6 or 7 hours, and no sign of any Horcrux whatsoever. Transfiguring a couple of stones into cheese and bread he sat down to eat, after making sure the area was indeed deserted.

Harry wondered if Snape could have led him astray; he knew Dumbledore trusted the man, ordered Snape to kill him that night, but still he was cautious.

"Oh well, Hermione would probably point out that his information so far has been absolutely reliable," Harry mused, chewing and contemplating his next move.

Another hour he walked, and though he marked his path he got a bit fed up. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, a dusty, moldy wooden door appeared.

Checking it for hexes, Harry found nothing. He carefully stood back and pointed his wand at it. "Alohomora!"

The door opened. Peaking inside, Harry saw a small corridor leading into a large chamber.

He cautiously entered.

As soon as he reached the chamber, he heard an ominous rumbling and stones fell to block up the passage. Wards flared, the doors disappeared and nothing but solid wall remained.

Crying out in frustration, Harry tried every spell he knew on the door.

"Don't bother," a familiar female voice said.

Turning around, Harry stared in the face, and wandtip, of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"At least now we know who the spy is," the woman continued with a sly grin, "only Snape could have told you to come here. No one else but me knew how to enter these caves. Awww, is the wittle baby scared?" she pouted.

"In case you didn't notice, you are just as locked in here as I am," Harry said.

Bellatrix frowned.

"No, I'm not. There is another exit, but it can only be opened…DRAT!" she exclaimed.

Harry saw his chance, and leaped behind a rock, drawing his wand.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" he cried, disarming Bellatrix.

He advanced on her, wand in hand.

"You will pay for Sirius now, you bitch. I promised Neville I'd let him have you if I could, but I'm sure he won't blame me…"

"If you kill me you won't get out of here, Potter," the witch yelled, "the other exit requires the Dark Mark to open it."

"So? I'll just cut off your mark after I kill you."

"You don't understand," the witch said, backed against a wall, "it needs an active Mark. One that is alive, and connected to our Lord. And…"

"And what?" Harry shouted.

"It needs both the Mark and a Parselmouth!" Bella screamed back in frustration, "I can't bloody kill you!"

Harry snorted. "You weren't going to anyway," he said, "you are probably just lying to save your worthless hide."

Bellatrix groaned. "Like I would keep YOU alive unless I had to," she snapped, "but we won't get out of here unless we are both alive. Remember that the Dark Lord is the only one who could command both, the Dark Mark and parseltongue. Only he can use the other exit by himself."

"Darn, great," Harry thought. "Now neither can survive unless the other lives."

"Where is this other exit?" he asked out loud.

"I don't know, exactly," Bellatrix admitted, "this is a complicated maze. But the Dark Lord told me about the other exit, that he used it years and years ago. He was positive it needs the Mark and a Parselmouth."

Harry bashed his skull. "Think, Harry, think. Snape is in danger. I have to get a message to him! Erm…wait…no. Bellatrix is the only one who knows for sure, so it only becomes relevant once we get out of here. Now I gotta tag along with the bitch to survive! This SO sucks."

"Ok. OK! Truce, then. Neither of us can afford to kill the other it seems."

"No," Bellatrix said, looking so incredibly chagrined that Harry started believing her words. Someone so obviously unsubtle couldn't act if their lives depended on it.

"Great. Just bloody great! Let's go then. Do you at least have a vague idea in which direction we should go?"

The witch shrugged, retrieving her wand.

Harry sighed. "Ok…last I knew Hogwarts was to the North. The lake extends above us and to the West. I suppose this other exit would most likely be to the South of Hogwarts?"

"Stands to reason it does," Bella grumbled.

"Point me," Harry said to his wand. It pointed North. In the opposite direction of the room was a corridor.

"That is south, then. Let's go."

They walked for hours without saying a word to each other. Harry was well equiped, having taken into consideration before he left that he might be some time, but Bellatrix had only her wand. Soon she was shivering in her thin robe.

Harry, who had brought and was wearing two robes, unclasped one and handed it to her.

"Can't have you freeze to death or I'll never get out," he muttered angrily.

"Aren't you the epitome of chivalry," the witch sneered, but still took the cloak.

"We have to go to the left here," Harry said.

"Straight on."

"Left."

"Awww, the ittle baby knows better? I had more experience with this sort of thing when you were still in your cradle."

"I thought you were torturing infants, not doing cave explorations."

Bellatrix' eyes glowed eerily. "Just because you were lucky enough to escape the Dark Lord once, boy…"

"Five times, actually. Not counting your attack on Hogwarts."

"Ah, yes. When Severus killed the Headmaster to save his own worthless hide. What was it like, seeing him fall off that tower?"

"Shut up," Harry said, using the Four Point spell again.

"He wasn't very willing to make that Unbreakable Vow, you know," Bellatrix continued, conversationally, "I had to force him into it after questioning him about his loyalties. It was only because of Cissy that I gave in. At first I thought I'd regret it, but when he killed Dumbledore…why, I was glad I didn't..rat…on him yet."

Harry's eyes flashed.

"Wormtail was there, too," the witch continued, delighting in Harry's obvious anger, "he lived with Snape. Imagine, all the times Severus could have planned for Wormtail to get accidentally caught and clear my dear cousin's name!"

Harry felt his blood boil as she taunted him about Sirius, and he came VERY close to cursing here. Only Hermione's voice in his head, urging him to ignore her if he wanted to get out of these caves alive, allowed him to keep his cool and continue.

Taking a left turn, they found themselves in a large cave.

"What now, oh glorious Chosen One?" Bellatrix said.

"I suppose you don't want to tell me where the Horcrux is, do you?"

"Horcrux?" Bellatrix narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, Horcrux. You know, vessel for a bit of soul, anchoring to this world, blahblahblah…"

"What about it?"

Harry sighed. "I want to find it. That's why I came down to these caves."

Bellatrix froze. "That's a Horcrux down here?"

"Well DUH," Harry said, looking around and noticing another door.

The Four Point spell indicated that continuing in that direction could be a good idea.

He walked towards it, and cast a few detection spells Bill Weasley had taught him. Bill had becomeincredibly bored on sickleave, as his mother and future wife had busied themselves with the wedding, and thought Harry might need a few good spells if he was going Horcrux hunting. Harry smiled grimly, remembering how seriously they had both taken this. As if Bill was considering Harry his successor. The injuries he had sustained had changed the eldest Weasley.

_Bill, still scarred and weary, sat in a hammock in the Weasley garden, lecturing Harry on the dangers of cursebreaking._

"…_and of course, you have to factor in ALL reactions, because when an item is cursed with more then one curse, the countercurse for one might set off another. You'll want to make sure you figure them all out…"_

_On another occasion, Bill had taught Harry the basic spells for cursebreaking._

"_There are five," he told Harry, "only five, but countless variations on them. You begin by determining the curse or curses you are dealing with. Then you jot down of every curse what category they are. Each category corresponds with one of the five basic countercurses. There are diagrams and all in the books I gave you. Remember, that a counter for one type of curse is a trigger for a curse in the opposite category. The most tricky are objects warded with curses of opposing categories. But you won't encounter those often; the magic required to keep two opposites together is usually more trouble then is worthwhile, even for Voldemort…"_

Bellatrix kicked Harry in the shin.

"Well, golden boy, wouldn't you get on with it?"

Harry scowled, and determining there were no curses on the door, he opened it. A large, very dark corridor lay before them.

"More dirty, dark passages," the witch grumbled, "should've worn old robes."

"Maybe you should've remembered to wear your Death Eater robes," Harry sneered, "they seem warm enough. Workrobes to you people, aren't they? I just can't figure out what the joy in killing people and being ordered around by a halfblood actually is."

It was Bellatrix' turn to go red in anger.

"You insulted the Dark Lord!" she screamed.

Harry raised an eyebrow in a distinct Snapish manner. "Obviously," he stated, "though only if one considers having Muggle relatives insulting."

Bellatrix glowered. "You hate your Muggle relatives too."

Harry shrugged. "It's not insulting to me to HAVE Muggle relatives. It's just that my Muggle relatives ARE insulting. But you don't see me running around, killing Muggles just because I happened to grow up with three of the most obnoxious people alive."

"My Lord does NOT have Muggle relatives!" the witch was nearly foaming at the mouth now.

"Not anymore, no," Harry said casually, as he made his way into the corridor, following the narrow beam of the Lumos spell from his wand, "he killed them when he was just out of school. The Riddle Mansion, where he took up headquarters, belonged to his father and grandparents. Why else do you think he was resurrected there? He needed a bone from his Muggle father."

Suddenly he heared a sound, and only years of Seeker instincts allowed him to duck in time as Bellatrix launched herself at him. .

He heard her thump against a wall, and he quickly aimed the lightbeam at her. She sat up dazed, but her eyes still glared at him in hatred.

"Really, do remember that we both have to survive if we want to escape this…maze," Harry drawled, snickering inwardly as he reminded himself to thank Snape for the lessons in infuriatingly calm behavior as soon as they were out of here.

She nearly snarled, reminding him briefly of Sirius, who used to have that same look on his face as a dog when he was unhappy about something. He thought it wise, however, not to mention this for fear of having his eyes scratched out.

And so, in a very tense silence and with occasional hateful stares, they continued the long journey out of the caves.


	2. Chapter 2

After another hour, they reached a smaller cave with a pool. Harry filled a flask, cast several cleaning and purification charms on it until he was sure it was drinkable, and drank deeply. Then he handed the flask to Bellatrix, who hesitated, but took it.

She drank while Harry transfigured some nearby rocks into food. Rather heavy food.

Harry then got a few items out of his pack.

"What are you doing?" Bellatrix asked, curious despite herself.

"Make yourself useful and cast a Lumos, I need some light here and I can't hold my wand. I'm making a torch so we don't have to spend magical energy. Besides, I'm tired of walking by a beam no wider then a flashlight."

"Flashlight?"

"Muggle."

"Oh," she sneered.

"You'd be surprised. Muggles don't need us, you know. They get by perfectly well. Better then us, in most cases."

"Why's that?"

Harry had found Hermione's invention. It wasn't ENTIRELY Muggle. The torch was made of the same material that Muggles use, but had been charmed to repel water and burn indefinately. Harry cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier.

"Inflammare," he said, setting the rags at one end on fire. An orange glow filled the cave.

"Better."

"What did you mean, Muggles get by better then us?" Bellatrix demanded.

Harry grinned inwardly. Seems he had gotten to her somehow.

"The Wizarding World doesn't evolve; it degenerates. Well, so does the Muggle world, but nowhere near as fast. Purebloods especially, since there is so much inbreeding. Tell me, is there anyone you could nowadays marry that is not related within at most five degrees?"

He could almost hear the witch's brain groan under the pressure of finding one.

"No," she finally admitted.

"See? Inbreeding becomes a problem. Eventually, my friend Hermione assures me, too much inbreeding will also weaken magic. Pureblood families are the only ones to produce squibs, for instance. It hardly ever happens to children with one Muggleborn parent. In fact, half blood children are often much stronger then purebloods. They seem to combine the best of both worlds. Tom Riddle and Severus Snape are both extremely powerful, and both have a Muggle parent. I myself…well maybe I'm not very powerful, but I'm not bad either…I have a Muggleborn parent as well."

Bellatrix opened and closed her mouth like a fish, unable to contradict Harry's reasoning.

"But…but…Dumbledore…he was very powerful…"

Harry nodded. "Yes. But need I point out his eccentricities, or his brother's? Besides, how do we know for sure that he WAS a pureblood?"

Bellatrix nearly fainted on the spot. There were two things about Dumbledore that no one, not even his enemies, had ever doubted: That he was a pureblood, and that he was a Gryffindor.

"Soon you'll tell me he was really a Slytherin," she sulked decidedly.

Harry shrugged. "Dunno about that. But I certainly am. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me there."

"NO!" She yelled, "That is just not possible! The Boy Who Lived, in OUR house!"

Harry snorted. "Don't be insane. If Wormtail was a Gryffindor, then I could certainly be a Slytherin. But I had just met your nephew, and well, you know how it is with kids. I didn't want to be in the same house as he was."

They settled down to sleep after a long and weary day. Normally, they would not even have thought about turning their backs to the other, let alone sleeping, but that was pointless now; they both knew they needed each other if they were ever going to get out.

But Harry could hear Bellatrix turning and tossing for ages before he fell asleep himself; it seemed he had underminded quite a number of the'truths' the witch had been brought up with.

The next day they took a supply of water, not knowing how long they'd be and when they'd next encounter drinkable water, and followed Harry's wand.

Now that they had a proper light source, Harry noticed the carvings on the walls. In elementary school he had been taught about cave-men drawing paintings, but this looked far to sophisticated for that.

"I wonder who made those," he said out loud.

Bellatrix answered indifferently,

"These caves were here long before the Hogwart's Four. Salazar Slytherin explored them, together with Rowena Ravenclaw. They concluded that a secluded sects of witches and wizards had once lived here. It's in Hogwarts: A History. The paintings had lost their animation over the ages, but not the faint trace of magic on them. Too bad they can't speak any longer, they could have shown us out."

Harry stopped dead in his tracts. "Wait a second. Can't we reanimate them?"

Bellatrix sneered at him. "They are probably warded, imbecilic child. We don't know a thing about them."

Ignoring her, Harry looked more closely at the paintings. There were some very strange creatures that he did not fancy reanimating, scantily clad witches doing…things Harry wasn't yet ready to think about, before he discovered one painting that still moved slightly.

It was clearly a nobleman.

Harry thought about it.

"Do you know about feeding magic into a painting?" he asked.

Bellatrix sighed.

"Very well, then, if we must," she grumbled.

"You put your hand on it, and focus on your magic. Then you say 'Reanimatus."

Harry looked up in surprise. "That is just ridiculously easy."

She rolled her eyes.

Harry put his hand on the picture.

"Reanimatus," he said, and felt his magic flow out.

"How do I stop?" he asked in a panic.

"You just do," Bellatrix said lazily, leaning against the opposing wall and cleaning her fingernails.

It took immense concentration, but finally Harry managed to pull out. He panted, reached for a vial of Pepperup and downed it.

"Drat. You could've told me before I did this!"

"Wouldn't have been half the fun," the witch said, completely unconcerned.

The painting glowered a bit before all the magic was absorbed, and smiled.

"Why hello," he said, "I was afraid I'd be stuck on that wall, unmoving, forever. Consciousness lasts longer then movement, you know. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. I am Oswy."

"I know you," Harry said, "You were in my history books. You lived about three hundred years before Hogwarts was founded."

"Stop chatting up a painting and get on with it," Bellatrix snapped.

"I'll say, you don't have much patience! You kind of remind me of my wife," Oswy glanced nervously at a nearby painting, "But don't tell her I said that."

Harry snickered.

"We need to find the way out of here, you stupid two dimensional artistic interpretation of a geriatric painter!" Bellatrix snarled.

Harry looked up in surprise. "Why, Bella, I never knew you could use really big words," he said innocently, "you must've been hanging out with Snape a lot lately."

He easily dodged the hex that came flying his way.

"Oho, you two fight as much as me and the missus do," Oswy gushed happily, "anyway, what can I do for you?"

"We need to find the other exit. The one nearest to the castle collapsed."

Oswy beamed with pleasure. "That is easy enough. At least I think it is. Don't know how these caves have held up since I was last able to travel the walls. At the end of this corridor, you go to the right. Then at the end of that, you go left. And at the end of that, you go right. And at the end of that…"

"Yes, we GOT IT!" Bellatrix spat out. "Left, right, left, right."

"No, no, no," Oswy said, looking worried, "right, left, right, left. Or you'll end up in Penda's cave. And you don't want to be there."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"Well, Penda stored some nasty stuff there."

Harry nodded, and waited until Bellatrix had started walking, bored.

"Do you happen to know if a man came here, a few decades ago, to hide stuff?" he whispered hastily.

"Yes," Oswy replied equally soft, "he did. In Penda's cave. If you ever venture there, I will assist you, but not with the dark witch with you."

"I know," Harry sighed, "I hate her. But we're stuck together if we want to get out alive."

"Quit talking to the fucking portrait and get MOVING, Potter," Bellatrix shouted.

An angry look crossed Harry's face, but then he ran to catch up with her.

"Idiotic tendency to talk to a piece of canvas," she muttered.

"Wall."

"What?"

"He's painted on the wall."

"Potter?"

"Yes, Lestrange?"

"Shut up before I curse you and die here of old age."

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right…

"That roof doesn't look stable."

"Do you see another way?"

"No. Still…"

"Awww, is the wittle baby scawed again?" Bellatrix taunted.

"To have an entire cave and lake collapse on our heads? I think I have the right to be slightly nervous."

"Don't be ridiculous, it's been here for 1500 years or so and nothing happened. Why should anything happen on the one day we walk through it?"

"Erm…because we both attract bad luck?" Harry ventured a guess.

"I do not attract bad luck!"

Harry snorted and coughed something that sounded like "CoughAzcoughKabancough".

Fortunately for him, the witch had already walked on and didn't hear.

"Can I ask you something?"

"…"

"Well, why DID you join Voldemort?"

"I don't suppose you could stop saying his name, and use 'My Lord' instead, could you?"

"Of course not, he's not my Lord, and never will be."

Bellatrix sighed.

"Rastaban and Rodolphus joined. All parents of everyone I knew had the same ideas. The Malfoys, the Notts…MOST of the Blacks…" she glared at Harry, as if Sirius' estrangement from his family was his fault.

"Muggles are inferior. It is sickening to even consider marrying one, let alone being conceived by one."

"But why join Voldemort? I thought Slytherins were proud. Why do you all grovel at his feet?"

"We do no such thing! Our Lord provides us with power, and glory."

"He provides himself with it."

"And it reflects upon us. Besides, he welcomed Slytherins. Made us feel like we were worthwile. In school we were the outsiders, the unworthy ones. When a Slytherin got into a fight, it was automatically our fault. Then, at our seventh year, our Lord came and told us we had a glorious future, away from those prejudices. With him, who could still appreciate purebloodedness for what it was worth. So we joined."

"And the killing, and torturing?"

The witch smirked evilly. "Added bonusses, Potter. I was squemish about it at first too, before I realized I was doing it for the betterment of our Lord, and against those who would interfere with his plans."

Harry sighed. "But innocent children?"

She looked at him, taxing. "Potter…you are too young to know, but in a war, if you spare the children of your enemies, they will grow up to be enemies themselves. That is a luxury you cannot afford. Mercy is something that has to wait until you are established and peaceful times arrive, when all bow before you. That is when you can afford to be kind."

Harry paled. "Sacrifices for the greater good?" he asked, his voice trembling.

Bellatrix looked at him in an odd manner. "Yes, exactly," she confirmed.

"I just don't like those stalagmites…stalagtites…whatever their name is."

"They are just hanging out, Potter."

"Oh ha ha."

"Look, will you stop worrying so much! I bet I could even send a reducto and they wouldn't come down!"

"NO!"

"RE…"

"NO, DON'T"

"DUC"

"STOP!" Harry lunged at the witch's wand.

"TO!"

The entire ceiling rumbled, and the pointed rocks hanging from the ceiling began to fall. Harry ran like mad for a cache in the wall 15 feet ahead as he was pelted with debree. Bellatrix was close on his heels, a bit pale at the result of her little joke. They huddled together in the small alcove, trying to get all limbs and other bodyparts inside and out of the way of the avalanche of stone.

"YOU STUPID BITCH!" Harry yelled over the noise, "YOU BLOODY NEARLY MURDERED US, YOU INSANE COW!"

"IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SUCH A LITTLE SHITE ABOUT THE ROCKS I WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN TEMPTED…"

They both screamed as a rock hit only a foot away from their hiding place.

Later, Harry didn't know how it happened, but suddenly they had their arms around each other in pure terror.

As the rocks continued to bombard, their lips suddenly found each other, and with a vicious snarl, both still pissed as hell at the other, they were lost to the world in a passionate kiss.

Not noticing when the rocks stopped falling and the dust settled.

Not noticing when they slipped out of the alcove a bit, scraping their legs against sharp rubble.

Aware only of the anger that burned in them and took its revenge on their companion's lips.


	3. Chapter 3

After what seemed like an hour, hands stilled and lips parted.

Bodies suddenly jerked backwards as mind overcame matter and the hormone raging bodies were subdued by the more sensible thinking brains.

They stared at each other in horror.

Bellatrix, no longer a teenager and much more practiced in the art of pretending nothing had happened then Harry, recovered first.

"See?" she said, getting up and brushing the dust off her robes and cloak, "only a few rocks. The ceiling has held. We're not in the middle of the lake."

Harry gasped for breath.

"Are you coming or what?" Bellatrix sneered, looking at the puddle of teenager on the floor.

Taking a deep breath, Harry managed, "Don't. EVER. Do. That. Again."

Another breath, and he could add, "You nearly got us killed! How stupid can you be?"

Bellatrix shot him a glare.

"I'd be careful if I were you," she said coldly, "I WILL kill you, as soon as we are out of here."

"Not if I kill you first," Harry retorted, confused, furious, and feeling very guilty.

They climbed over the boulders and finally reached the end of the corridor.

"Right," Bellatrix said.

"Left," Harry corrected.

"What?"

"Left. We need to go left."

The witch was about to reach for her wand, but thought better of it and simply stalked away, robes billowing. Briefly, Harry wondered if the Death Eater course 101 was dedicated to making robes billow like that. Snape's robes did that too. Though Snape's ass wasn't nearly as nice as Bella's.

Nearly gagging at this line of thought, Harry shook his head and slapped it for good measure.

Finally, after another twenty left and rights, they reached a solid wall.

"Looks like the little painting was having us on," Bella nearly exploded in fury.

"Oh, shut up," Harry said, taking out his wand.

"Here it is," he said after some scanning, "This is the door."

Casting the detection spells Bill taught him, he detected at least four curses. Two of them of opposite categories.

"Oh great," he groaned. Looking around, he gave the witch the torch.

"You might as well sit down," he grumbled, "this'll take a while. It's complicated."

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "You can break curses?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm only an amateur, but since we have no professional at hand…"

Three of the curses would easily have been disspelled with an adaptation of a basic countercurse, but the fourth complicated matters significantly. Not only did it make the countercurse for the opposite category impossible, it also meant that using the counter for the other two wouldn't work either.

Harry pulled out the book Bill had given him and started studying.

After an hour or two, he nodded.

"Ok. So. I need to use the countercurse that will provoke the least reaction, and cast a containment field first. In that field I need to use the countercurse that is adapted to the particular curse."

Bella stared at him.

"Well, it makes sense to me," Harry said defensively.

"Let's see. I can't do both at the same time. Can you cast things like this?"

Bellatrix shook her head.

"Pity. Erm…darn. Now I understand why cursebreakers work in teams so often. Perhaps if I can tie the shield to a password so that it automatically activates after I cast the countercurses…"

Harry sighed.

"You had better stand back a bit," he said.

Then he raised his wand, creating the shield first.

"Ok. One down, four to go," he trembled a bit as he levelled his wand at the wall.

"Finite Incantatem," he said.

The wall glowered and runes appeared.

Meticulously aiming for each of the runes, Harry cast the appropriate countercurse, save one.

As he cast the last counter, the wall began to crack and sparkle with electricity, but the moment the last word had fallen from his lips, Harry stepped back and a shield formed.

The electrical outburst attacked the shield and it wavered.

It was Harry's most terrifying moment. Not counting kissing his arch enemy, of course.

Feeding more strength to the shield, it held until the energy was spent and the runes fell, leaving a stone door behind.

"There," Harry said, sitting down, "done."

Bellatrix glowed with pleasure.

"Good, now hiss something and we can get out of here," she said.

Harry smirked.

"Honestly, how stupid do you think I am? I'm spent; I need rest. If we exit now, you could easily defeat me. No, I'm going to take a nap," he rolled over and yawned, "and when I've recovered, we'll see about getting out…" he slept before he had properly finished the sentence.

Three hours later he woke up to find Bellatrix sitting in 30 feet away, studying her Dark Mark.

"Ready?"

She nodded and got up.

"I'm going to press my Mark to the door, and you need to speak at the same time. I presume my Lord just said 'open', I don't speak parseltongue, of course."

The tension in the air intensified, and they both grabbed their wands.

Bellatrix put her Dark Mark on the wall.

"Open, Sesame," Harry hissed.

The door seemed to melt away into a short tunnel.

And at the end of the tunnel, there was a light.

They exited to bright sunlight in the mountains just beyond Hogwarts.

And suddenly they both had their wands aimed at the other.

"I swore I would kill you," Harry said.

"And I would like nothing better then to bring your head to my Lord on a platter," Bellatrix stated.

They stood there for what seemed like hours, neither of them making the first move.

Then finally, Bellatrix looked away.

"I can give you about six hours to warn Snape," she said, "after that I can no longer explain my delay from the moment we left here to when I reported back to the Dark Lord."

Harry couldn't believe his ears. For a moment, the thought of simply taking her out was all that filled his mind. Sirius! She killed Sirius!

"Next time, I will kill you," he said, his voice shaking.

"Not if I kill you first," she used his own words against him. Then she nodded.

"I'm counting on a decent fight, next time, Potter."

With that, she apparated away, and Harry began his own journey back to the school.


	4. Chapter 4

A year after Waters Run Deep.

The final battle had been more of an anticlimax then anything else. Voldemort had summoned his last resources, of course, and he had no choice but to make an appearance himself; the only thing that could have saved his Death Eater movement.

But it didn't.

In a gruelling fight, suddenly aware of his mortality, Voldemort realized how much he had underestimated the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One. And how much he was mistaken when he had Albus Dumbledore killed.

Severus Snape he had seen, fighting at the side of the Light. When Bellatrix returned from her time locked in the caves below the Hogwart's grounds, she'd announced that Snape was a traitor.

But Snape never responded to his repeated summons.

Harry Potter, the baby he had tried to kill, had grown into the powerful leader of the Light. The quests for the Horcruxes had only increased his abilities, and with his friends at his side, he radiated a strength that none could match.

Not even the Dark Lord.

Harry panted, his wand still in his hand, raised over Voldemort's broken body.

It was over, and he had yet to realize it. After all the fighting, all the deaths, it had ended today.

A noise behind him made him swirl around, his wand pointing at the dirty face of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I promised Neville long ago I'd let him have you," Harry said mildly.

She shrugged. "Draco insisted on battling him first. Lucius joined him. Two against one was a bit too much for your friend, although he killed them both. But he was wounded, they carried him off."

"There's always tomorrow."

"Don't kid yourself, Potter. This ends today. Either by the Kiss or another means, I won't live to see tomorrow now that my Lord is dead."

"Why are you here, then?"

Bellatrix sighed. "I don't know. At first I thought to kill you, but what would be the point? It would be a hollow victory, even if I could manage it. I already saw last year that you are more powerful then me, when you broke the curses on that blasted door."

Harry grinned. "I was impressed myself," he admitted. In the surrealistic afterglow of battle, catching up with his second-greatest enemy seemed perfectly normal. All they lacked was a good cup of tea.

"You've gone back," she said. It wasn't a question, of course. The Horcrux was gone after all.

"Certainly."

"That annoying little man you animated…"

"Oswy."

"Yes, him. He helped you, I suppose?"

"Very much so. He roams the caves, but I've rewarded him by giving him entrance to the castle too."

They fell silent.

Eventually Bellatrix lowered her eyes.

"I fear the Kiss," she said.

"If it were up to me, I'd rather you kill me now," she looked at him, hopeful.

Harry shook his head. "I can't. Even if we hadn't…back then…I couldn't. Not like this."

"I know."

She smiled slightly.

"You know, maybe you did have a point…about what you said…back then."

And before Harry could make a move, she had pointed her wand at her own heart.

"Avada Kedavra"


End file.
